All true wisdom is only to be learned far from the dwellings of men, out in the great solitudes…To learn to see, to learn to hear, you must do this---go into the wilderness alone… --Igjugarjuk, Caribou shaman, In Joan Halifax, Shamanic Voices (Galland. 1980, p. 100).

Co-arising along with our current worldwide ecological mega-crisis is the hope that we can somehow change direction in time before we have rendered our planet virtually uninhabitable. This hope can involve a waking up process in which one becomes aware of the far-reaching consequences of every action and the fundamental unity of all existence. An ancient and wise saying from the East goes something like this, "If you don’t change direction you’ll end up where you’re heading." Considering the direction in which we are heading and how fast we are travelling, a shift in our collective worldview may prove to be an all-important factor in circumventing our lemming-like self-destruction.

Eco-educator and Buddhist scholar Joanna Macy (1998) names a "fundamental shift in worldview and values" as an important part of what she calls "the Great Turning" (p. 17). The Great Turning is a tumultuous time of upheaval and an important time of reawakening to our ecological roots. The hope is that this "turning" or "paradigm shift" will lead us away from a dualistic, psychological disconnection from the natural world and an exclusive identification with the human created, cultural or built world and toward a form of conscious symbiosis or holistic awareness of our indelible and fundamental connection with the earth and the entire web of being.

Richard Tarnas, author of The Passion of the Western Mind (1991) believes that, "The twentieth century’s massive and radical breakdown...suggests the necessary deconstruction prior to a new birth." Citing the following as evidence of this "new birth" Tarnas asks:

And why is there evident now such a widespread and constantly growing collective impetus in the Western mind to articulate a holistic and participatory world-view, visible in virtually every field? The collective psyche seems to be in the grip of a powerful archetypal dynamic in which the long-alienated modern mind is breaking through, out of the contractions of its birth process, out of what Blake called its ‘mind-forg’d manacles’ to rediscover its intimate relationship with nature and the larger cosmos (p. 440).

Arising as a major part of this paradigm shift is a relatively new field of psychology aptly termed ecopsychology. Eco, from the Greek "oikos," meaning house; psych, from the Greek "psychein," originally meaning breath or spirit, as in re-spirate and "ology" which can mean the "study of," however for my own purposes I am using the meaning derived from the pre-Socratic Greek philosopher Heraclitus’ idea of logos, meaning the logical order or "way" of things (Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary Fifth Edition, 1936, p. 316; Abram, 1996, pp. 237, 238; Melchert, 1991, pp. 19, 20). Ecopsychology can therefore be seen as being concerned with the order or way of spirit in its home, that is, the earth. This definition is in tune with the ancient philosophy of Taoism which emphasizes observing and aligning with natural processes and systems as a way toward wise action and a sense of participation with life. This is the definition of psychology and ecopsychology that I wish the reader to keep in mind throughout this text.

In less etymological terms ecopsychology represents a synthesis of the insights of psychology with ecology and the environmental movement. In Ecopsychologist Andy Fisher’s words: "It [ecopsychology] suggests that the violence we do to the ‘natural world’ results from our psychological and spiritual separation from nature" (1996, p. 22). Ecopsychology "examines the psychological processes that bond us to the natural world or that alienate us from it" (Gomes, 1998, p. 1). Ecopsychology is concerned with fostering an awareness of an intimate and profoundly symbiotic relationship with the environment and how this affects us psychologically, individually and globally. According to Ecopsychologist and educator Mary Gomes "…Our states of mind find expression in the way that we relate to the natural world. The outer and inner worlds reflect and support one another, which means that a healthy ecosystem is inseparable from a healthy psyche" (p.1).

A major area of concern within ecopsychology is the study of, what has been called by Greenway (1995) and others, the "wilderness effect" (p. 127). One purpose of extended stays in natural environments or wilderness is to re-connect with nature. Nature, in ecopsychology, is considered to be our extended body, an integral aspect of our ontology, the very ground of our being. Physically we can never actually be disconnected from the life-sustaining environment. That is, separation from oxygen, food, water and sunlight means the death of the organism. The disconnection ecopsychology speaks of is a psychological and spiritual one. The enormous ecological problems we now face are the consequences of actions based on an illusion of disconnection. It is precisely the thinking and consequent actions of a culture based on the dualistic philosophy that humans are not of the earth and are somehow separate or independent that brings about the necessity of dispelling the illusion of disconnection by attempting a psychological and spiritual reconnection. In speaking of the powerful earth-connecting work that ecopsychologists do and the resulting psychological benefits Gomes and Kanner write:

It is common for ecopsychologists whose work includes long wilderness trips…to report dramatic breakthroughs that shake individuals to their core. When the natural world awakens in every fiber of our being the primal knowledge of connection and graces us with a few moments of sheer awe, it can shatter the hubris and isolation so necessary for narcissistic defenses, once this has happened, ongoing contact with nature can keep these insights alive and provide the motivation necessary for continued change. It is these experiences that will ultimately fill the empty self and heal the existential loneliness so endemic to our times (Clinebell. 1996, p. 223).

Psychologist Steven Harper, who does wilderness work, or "practice" as he calls it, through the Esalen Institute, echoes the words of Gomes and Kanner when he "suggests that the authentic experience of wilderness undercuts all our suppositions about the ‘civilized’ and the ‘primitive’ in ways that can deliver a ‘reality shock’ " (1995, pp. 183, 184).

Defining Wilderness

Before I go any further I think that it is important to attempt to define what is meant by the terms "wilderness" and "natural environment." It is difficult to simultaneously define humans as an aspect of the earth while defining human artifacts as unnatural. In one sense we can see that human-made artifacts, buildings and technologies in general are as "natural" as a bird’s nest or a beaver’s dam. In this sense there seems to be no clearly marked boundaries between what we term natural and artificial. On this distinction Wohlwill (1983) writes:

…The differentiation between the natural and the artificial-is itself a product of our own culture. Indeed, the proposed dichotomy appears altogether incompatible with the view of nature of such diverse peoples as the Navaho, with their sense of oneness with nature, and the Japanese, who through their gardens and their art appear to infuse their experience of nature with a distinctly human character (Altman & Wohlwill, p. 11).

In attempting a definition of wilderness ² it seems that I am creating a boundary that doesn’t exist anywhere but in the mind. Natural versus artificial is a concept only and, according to Wohlwill, it is a concept that reveals itself as the original nature separation illusion talked of earlier. However, it is clear to me that no study of wilderness effects should be proposed without at least some definition of the term "wilderness." My solution lies in abandoning any clear-cut distinctions of definition by exclusion. As Wohlwill suggests:

A lenient criteria is apt to serve us best, that is, one that allows us to include in our discussion of response to the domain of nature settings that may in fact have experienced considerable intrusions through buildings, roads, and artifacts of different kinds-provided that the natural aspects remain predominant over the built ones and that the area remains identified as a "natural" or "scenic" one, in terms of the use made of it (p. 10).

In this study I will use the above criteria for defining wilderness as described by Wohlwill.

2 Luther Standing Bear gives us the Native American view of the term "wild:" "We did not think of the great open plains, the beautiful rolling hills, and the winding streams with tangled growth as ‘wild.’ Only to white man was nature a wilderness…To us it was tame…not until the hairy man from the east came…was it ‘wild’ for us" (Forbes, J. 1992 p. 33).

Some Questions that Concern this Study

What is the "wilderness effect" and why do people seek it? More to the point, as far as this study is concerned, is the question of what it is that might underlie the processes of wilderness effects and what facilitates these processes? I stated earlier that some people seek wilderness/natural environment related experiences in order to psychologically and spiritually reconnect with nature, the life sustaining earth. This answer is, of course, much too simple and can only represent a generalized answer in the face of many more empirically validated possible answers. What we are likely to find is that there are as many wilderness "effects" as there are people who seek them. That is not to suggest, however, that there are not common or correlated factors to these experiences. What do people expect to happen and what do they actually experience that makes them value their experience and want to have similar experiences?

A brief look at the historical record may be of some help in this instance. When we consider the vast amount of religious and philosophical literature relevant to wilderness experiences we come to see that humans have been deliberately seeking wilderness experiences long before the prompting of the postmodern, techno-centric era and our collective psychological and ecological crises. In our re-discovery of wilderness and nature connection we find a staggering variety of past examples to peruse.

Probably the most outstanding of these examples in Western culture is Jesus purported fasting alone in the "wilderness" (Gospel of St. Matthew, King James Bible p. 5). Mohammed, Moses, Buddha, Black Elk and countless other shamans and figures from various religions, cultures and philosophical doctrines have intentionally sought wilderness experiences. "For the shaman, as for the Tibetan anchorite and most seers and visionaries," writes Joan Halifax "nature’s wilderness is the locus for the elicitation of the individual’s inner wilderness, the great plain of the spirit" (Galland. 1980, p.115). From Thoreau to the Sanyassins or wandering forest-dweller holy men of India, the seeking of solitude in natural environments seems universal in the study of human history. This aspect of human-ness spans cultural, historical, racial and temporal differences. Indeed, in Jungian terms, it seems to be an indelible and important aspect of our collective unconscious. It can be seen as an archetypal experience, which is now being re-discovered at a crucial turning point in our evolution. This is a part of the same "powerful archetypal dynamic," which Richard Tarnas says, "the collective psyche seems to be in the grip of" (p. 440).

Far from being a new or strange idea the seeking of wilderness experiences appears to lie near the core of what it means to be a human animal. Speaking in more specific terms this study looks for answers as to why people seek wilderness experiences and asks what they gain from these experiences? The deeper answers to these questions may prove, in the long run, ineffable and for this reason all the more worthy of exploration.

Extensive and varied recreational research conducted by the USDA Forest Service gives at least a partial answer to this question. Knopf (1983) reports on "three basic tenets" which emerged from "comparative analysis:"

First, motive structures were seen as being activity dependent-that is, people doing different things seemed to be searching for different mixes of outcomes. Second, people were seen as visiting natural environments largely to alleviate stress. In virtually every analysis escape was identified as particularly important irrespective of the activity. Third, people were seen as valuing the psychological products of the activity more than the activity itself (p. 207)

Getting away, alleviating stress and the benefits of "psychological products" attract people to natural environments by the thousands. The "psychological products" reported by the above mentioned studies are "the opportunity to relax, achieve and socialize" (p. 208).

Knopf also reports that,

Perhaps the most convincing early data were gained from a national household survey conducted by Mandell and Marans (1972). They asked household heads to identify their favorite outdoor activity and then asked them to rate the relative importance of 12 possible reasons for wanting to participate in it. For the nation’s populace as a whole, the most important reason was "to relieve my tensions." A hefty 60 percent of the people sampled rated it "very important" (p. 212).

In one sense these studies, though important, are telling us something most of us already know or can at least intuit. That is, being in a natural setting relieves stress, promotes relaxation and a general sense of well being. On one level the fact that we feel the need to do this research to prove what some might think are more or less obvious truths, speaks to how far we may have come in our sense of disconnection from nature.

Examples of wilderness experiences that go beyond simple stress reduction models and point toward deeper or "higher" states of consciousness can be very moving and reminiscent of readings, theories and findings from gestalt therapy, Eastern psychology and the "peak experiences" of transpersonal psychology to name only a few. In a chapter from Ecopsychology: Restoring the Earth, Healing the Mind, Steven Harper talks of his "experience of wholeness:"

On a two-month canoe trip across the Northwest Territories of Canada, I was blessed with such an experience. Near the end of a long day of paddling the sun was low in the sky and my mind had long ceased its normal chatter. I had the sensation of becoming my paddling and all that was around me. Stroke after stroke I was called to merge with my experience until ‘I’ was no more. Only perception existed, a perception that was more complete, more whole than any I have known in a usual state of consciousness (p.196).

Ecopsychologist Chellis Glendinning, (1994) in her enlightening book, My Name is Chellis and I’m in Recovery From Western Civilization speaks of "Lynda M. Leonard, a nature guide who leads people on solo journeys into the wilderness…[Lynda] tells of a trip she took into the mountains surrounding Crestone, Colorado:

When I settled into the place, I could see the magic, the golden threads that connect the trees and plants. This is the beauty of letting down and letting nature heal: you begin to see from the sacred view. You become the center of the holograph that gets subtler and subtler. You go beyond the density of this reality. Your senses become so tuned in that you hear the ants moving behind you. You begin to be able to be the deer; you move like a deer, and you open to the brilliance of what life is all about (p. 185).

Glendinning goes on to tell of her own "extraordinary experience:"

…I had been eating a simple dinner of brown rice and greens on the roof when I felt something occur in my body, something like a door swinging open. Wide open. A golden sun was just setting behind the Jemez Mountains: bursts of orange and pink were shooting like streamers through the fading sky. To my surprise, I was sensing the full-bodied aliveness of every juniper and rock and hawk on the Earth. By the front door to my house I saw, really saw, the tall piñon that I ordinarily brushed by; its needles and cones were bursting with presence, its branches and trunk with consciousness. I had never before communicated directly with it, nor with any other wild being. I saw how foolish I had been. My recovery from western civilization was under way (pp. 185, 186).

From these examples we see clearly that there are deeper and more profound psychological and perhaps psycho-physiological developments or events that can occur with extended stays in natural environments. The types of profound insights and changes reported here and in the experiences of religious and historical figures mentioned earlier go far beyond the "get away from it all" relaxation and stress reduction of the formerly mentioned studies. The type of experience I am concerned with in this study goes beyond a mere "re-charging of your batteries" as the current cliché goes. The wilderness experience I refer to also includes these stress reducing aspects but these "preliminary" results might simply be the somehow truncated beginnings of more involved and more profound psychological processes. Other possibilities include the idea that wilderness or natural environments afford a marked contrast to hectic lives lived on strict time constrained schedules, including the contrast between motion/stillness, noise/quiet and privacy versus almost constant social and technological interaction and distraction. By contrast, contact with non-human based environments may afford time for introspection, reflection and a chance to be free of psychologically unsafe atmospheres. Whatever the reason it seems that even at the recreational level important and significant psychological benefits are produced.

The main focus of this study is to explore the more profound and meaningful psychological benefits and dynamics of, what might be in its own right termed, true re-creation. That is, a true and deeply profound feeling of re-creating one’s self and the implications of this experience.

What is common to the various reports on the therapeutic value of wilderness? What happens to facilitate the types of profound psychological transformations reported by vision quest fasters and others who go into wilderness with the intention of gaining insights, self re-creation and expansion? What is the role intention plays in these experiences? In short, what facilitates a "connecting with nature?"

 

My own experiences in the wilderness serve as the main motivational force behind this research project. The dynamic transformations and openings stemming from wilderness experiences that I’ve witnessed in others and in myself prompt me to ask the questions this investigation attempts to probe.

I fell in love with wild nature as a young boy playing with friends in trees, creeks, on hillsides and in groves. This, I believe, is as it should be with all children if they are given the chance. This love deepened with my experiences on extended camping trips as a Boy Scout. From the age of seventeen I have always lived in "the country" in very rural settings on mountains and in forests. A good portion of the years between 17 and 22 were spent living in a cabin in Northern California with no electricity. Kerosene lamps and wood burning stoves were the norm as well as some hunting and gardening. During this time in my life it was my habit to take long walks alone. I would walk for hours along ridge-tops, through densely forested hillsides and along creek beds, just exploring, learning the lay of the land. The feelings of freedom, peace and one-ness with nature were something I sort of took for granted. I did not consider it to be something special as it was simply the way I lived. There were also times of extreme loneliness and depression, during non-stop winter rainstorms and times when human companionship was longed for.

Although I have had many more experiences in the wilderness, which might be defined as life-changing events, the three personal stories that follow are the ones that really stand out for me.

Upon the occasion of my first visit to Yosemite Valley I was paradoxically aware of simultaneously being both small and large. Being centered in my body yet experiencing an expansion of myself to include the immense stretches of granite and sky produced an awesome feeling of being both gigantic and tiny all at once. I seemed to be experiencing myself as the field of experience. This was a profoundly moving experience for me and affected me greatly.

For several weeks after my Yosemite encounter I was very different. Perception was different for me; I needed to remind myself constantly what the names of things were. I was seeing everything as if for the first time and formerly concrete distinctions and boundaries had vanished. I perceived myself as an aspect of one continuously unfolding reality. Even hearing my own name sounded strange and I would have to remind myself what this sound referred to. Some might say I was having a psychotic break, however, they would be wrong. I wasn’t confused and felt more positively sure and compassionately aware than ever before. I knew what was important and what was trivial and I wasn’t attached or easily "hooked" into emotional games or judgments.

I’m not entirely sure what happened but it seemed "I" gradually fell back into my old, limited, particle-like consciousness. For a few weeks there was no "I" having an experience there was only experience happening and no boundaries, just this single experience which was (is) universal, everywhere simultaneously. These words cannot accurately describe this phenomenon. Suffice it to say that for a time I was more awake than I had ever been and that during this time I knew that everything is perfect the way it is. I had no desire to make things be any different except to add more love and compassion to the world.

The following is a personal account of a short, solo, wilderness quest experience involving meditation and ritual and occurring during a three-day ecopsychology retreat in a natural setting:

I held a vague idea in my mind about what form my personal ritual might take before our group dispersed that afternoon. I had with me some herbs (ginseng leaves), some bread and some water. I walked on alone wanting to find a peaceful, secluded, wooded place to get centered and grounded. Walking, taking in the beauty of trees and sunlight, I was mindful and aware of my surroundings and each footstep I took, being mindful to notice anything that may hold significance to my question. Being conscious of going through a time of tension and stress I was asking, "Why did I choose this, this current circumstance in my life?"

I eventually found myself at the bottom of a thickly wooded ravine sitting with my feet in the now dry streambed. A few feet upstream water collected in a small pool before continuing on underground. This place seems filled with Yin or female energy. I could hear the spirit of this spring speak as drops of water musically plopped into the pool at long intervals, counting out the rhythm of its song; tension and release, tension and release.

I grounded myself by imagining that I had roots that went down into the earth; all the way down to the central core of the earth. I offered herbs, bread and water to the four directions, to the spring and to myself. After asking permission and giving thanks I took a small, flat rock from the streambed and poured onto it a pile of green ginseng leaves. I lit the leaves and gently blew on them making them smolder and purified myself with the smoke. I offered the sweet incense to the four directions and set it down next to me on a rotting, moss covered branch, where it continued to burn.

As I meditated time slowed and the rhythmic calming sound of the dripping water deepened my sense of peace and ease, sending me to a calm and relaxing state. I seemed to disappear or blend into the environment; the border between "other" and "I" began to blur. Close to an hour must have passed before I heard two or three Ravens fly overhead, caw, caw, caw. Some time after this I could hear people talking loudly in the distance which served to bring me out of meditation and I decided to bring my ritual to its conclusion. I closed my meditation, once again envisioning my grounding roots. I asked permission to take three more stones with me for a group ritual and placed them in my pack. After cleaning up the ashes from the now burnt herbs I looked around me and said good-bye and thanks to the spring and this beautiful, peaceful place.

Walking up into the sunlit meadow I felt I had been gone for a long time. Laying down I soaked up the warmth and spent the rest of the time watching butterflies fly about and land on the small yellow flowers that dotted the meadow. I felt sad, peaceful and restful. I had come out of my head; in other words I had ceased living just from the neck up, for now. The thought of doing anything intellectual or analytical made me feel sick. I could see the defensive ego attachment I have to that type of thinking and living. Being out of a people-box for two days awakened my body to its’ earth-based connection and, through interaction with my surroundings and using ritual and meditation, pulled me out of my intellectual head-based living.

Answers? Water always takes the path of least resistance. This does not mean that there is no resistance. Life exists as a series of tension and release, buildup and breakthrough. Yin and Yang, the interplay of opposing forces, creating tension, creating release, creating life, creating all that is. This is a lesson from the spring/spirit.

Maybe my question is so big that some of the answers come gradually and slowly. It may take a while to really know what I have learned here and then integrate it. I know this: Any understanding I reach must be a whole understanding, not just a purely intellectual one but a bodily one as well. My body reawakens and re-informs me of its indelible connection when I live outdoors for a while. It takes me into a world where logical and rational thinking are revealed as extremely limiting ways of being. I feel strongly that this is a road to wholeness and Self-actualization.

After the solo quest time the whole group sat in a council circle and shared their stories. The group process was emotionally moving and healing, each person opening and revealing more of themselves through the answers and questions they had received. Afterward we walked back to camp quietly and cooked dinner together.

This retreat lasted three days and nights and by the time it was over I felt very different somehow. The changes I described above were profound and lasting. I really had come out of my head awareness and felt like I now inhabited my body more fully. I was also less emotionally invested in things that I previously would have let push my buttons. For instance, someone cutting in front of me at the gas station did not make me angry, instead I thought it was rather humorous that they were playing this game; I felt very detached and refused to participate; I was not in a hurry to get mine first. This sense of amusement characterized the state of consciousness I was in after being in the wilderness for three days. My sense of self had expanded and with it a greater sense of what was important to me. I was detached from the human-made world of culture and right and wrong, this versus that; it all seemed so silly and such a monumental waste of time and energy. After two or three weeks this slowly wore off and I began acting and reacting less mindfully and more like a culturally programmed person ought to. The lesson here, I believe is that, like mindfulness meditation, the opening and expansion that occurs for me in wilderness is a practice I need to return to regularly.

More recently I underwent a personal rite of passage by going on a vision quest fast in which I found myself alone and without food for three days and nights in Death Valley. The following is an excerpt from the write-up I did about this experience:

I sat for a long time noticing small details in the landscape. Everywhere I looked I saw a type of small grass, dried from the sun and about four or five inches high. I noticed that in the places I’d walked this grass was mostly flattened. It suddenly occurred to me that this tiny ubiquitous plant was what was holding this hillside together. This meant that during the next rain the delicate crust of the desert floor would be washed away in the places where I had stepped on these small plants. I felt ashamed and remembered that I had cleared a place for sleeping on the day I looked for my spot, only to realize that I could see the road from there. I abandoned that spot but had been mindless enough to disturb it before thoroughly checking it out. I felt good, however, about using the sheep-trails during my walks and became more mindful in general about where I placed my feet. For instance, when I urinated, which was very frequently, I always walked the same path so as not to disturb more grass and dirt. This awakening helped to make me more aware and mindful in general as I thought about all the ways that my being here might affect this place.

From this tiny plant I learned lessons about how small things, by the power of their smallness and abundance, helped hold together a world. I also learned first-hand about the symbiotic interdependence of all things. There is not one aspect of this ecosystem that is unimportant. Everything, from the smallest grain of sand, the tiniest ant to the huge mountains I see as the horizon are one system. Distinctions of large and small fall away at this level of awareness. One individual grass stalk may seem tiny and insignificant but look around; there is no end to them! A veritable miniature forest of grass represents one vast organism, which is symbiotically connected to the ground from which it springs. The grass keeps the ground in place and the ground nurtures the grass. I cannot tell you where the grass stops and the earth begins because they are not two separate life forms.

As I sat there realizing all this I understood that it is the same with me and indeed with all that exists. At that moment I could not tell where I stopped and the world began, simply because there was (is) no "I" just one continuous, unfolding process. Although I have had many more experiences in the wilderness, which might be defined as life-changing events, these three are the ones that really stand out for me.

Some people may not be ready for a wilderness experience. They may have grown up in an exclusively urban environment and are so used to this type of lifestyle that they do not know how to be in the wilderness. The following account and speculation comes from my experience and like the above passages reveals some of my bias in this area of thought.

Many years ago I happened to bring a friend up to the beautiful mountains and forests of Southern Humboldt County California. This particular man was originally from New York City and had never spent much time in nature. Robbie was a people person and an extrovert; he was forever in conversation and was always "on-the-go." When I brought him up from Berkeley I thought he would be amazed and awed by the incredible beauty of the Northern California landscape. In short, he was not positively impressed. Robbie talked of how "spooky" and "lonely" the forests and hills felt to him. He couldn’t wait to get back to the city and wondered aloud how anyone could stand to live in such a remote and "desolate" place.

The reasons I lived there were the reasons he wanted to leave. It may be that the land spoke the same message to us both but Robbie received it very differently. Perhaps, confronted with the vast expanse of mountains and forest Robbie could not see himself narcissistically, or otherwise, reflected back to him, as he was constantly accustomed to. It must have felt utterly lonely to him yet he was probably surrounded by more life than he had previously seen or felt.

Echoing the words of Rollo May (1983) quoted previously, Robbie felt "estranged…from the natural world…" alienated, scared and unable to be still and just listen (p. 118).

It has been my experience that being in a forest can be a confusing and unsettling experience if I am mostly in my head/intellect. That is, because most of us spend the majority of our time inside of a "people-box" (house or office, classroom or car) we may have a tendency to lose a particular type of perceptive communication that is not so exclusively rational, intellectual or head-based but is more wholly experiential, sensual and radically organism/environmentally based. In the words of phenomenological psychologist Donald Polkinghorne (1989) "Experience is a reality that results from the openness of human awareness to the world, and it cannot be reduced to either the sphere of the mental or the sphere of the physical" (p. 42).

Without allowing ourselves to fully enter the natural environment we may begin to think that the forest is scary or that the mountains somehow threaten us. If being in a forest seems frightening then our fear can easily become a part of our projected perception of this landscape. Anything we perceive fearfully we have a tendency to want to control, hence the "spooky" forest gets clear-cut, the mountain bulldozed, conquered.

I am wondering what would happen if we didn’t flee the forest when we first felt our projected fear or other emotional or physical discomfort? What might happen if we just sat with our fear, as in therapy when a client no longer avoids a painful emotion? This fear may also be a fear of our own vast potentialities. Surely Robbie did not see the forest as fearful or threatening because of its intense beauty. This forgotten part of ourselves can give us hints that we are so much more than we have imagined. This feeling can threaten entrenched belief systems and our very sense of identity. In my experience if we can somehow allow ourselves to encounter this mystical fright, it changes. As our fear, frustration, anger or other emotional and physical discomfort reaches its apogee it can be replaced or transformed into insight, awe, wonder, gratitude, sadness and a deep non-literal perceptive communication may open to our awareness. We can then come out of living exclusively in our heads. Our bodies have a chance to reawaken, stimulated by an intuitive, inner-"knowing," freed from the confines of exclusive, learned, cultural "head" perception.

This example from my experience reveals the importance of preparation in entering wilderness and that some people have a pre-disposition to want to go into wilderness while others, due to their upbringing or other cultural factors may not have the desire or are simply not psychologically ready to go there.

The following studies, stories and research findings may go a long way toward exploring possible answers and insights to the questions this study poses.

In an article by Garrett Duncan titled, "The Psychological Benefits of Wilderness" he cites the research of B. L. Driver who with his "colleagues developed one of the most thorough indexes of wilderness benefits. They created a ‘Taxonomy of Wilderness Benefits’ that was divided into two categories, personal and social benefits. Included were some of the benefit categories that are of interest to those examining ecopsychology: developmental, therapeutic/healing, physical health, spiritual, and self-sufficiency. These benefits are often realized by an individual visiting a wilderness area" (1999 p. 3).

Betty B. Rossman and Z. Joseph Ulehla in 1977 reported their wilderness research findings in a paper entitled, "Psychological Reward Values Associated with Wilderness use: A Functional-Reinforcement Approach." Rossman and Ulehla interviewed and administered questionnaires to "47 male and 47 female undergraduate students" (p. 45). Rossman and Ulehla were looking for the answers to four questions: "What are the rewards of wilderness for the individual user? Do they form coherent clusters or factors? How important are they? And, can they be obtained in ‘improved’ environments as well, or is wilderness uniquely essential for their satisfaction?" (p. 44). Rossman and Ulehla found that what participants valued in wilderness "use" was "a chance for spiritually uplifting experience" (p. 47). Answers to particular questions "appeared to reflect reward values attached to a religious or spiritual experience encountered in wilderness settings…In this factor natural settings seemed to be viewed more as sources of renewed and expanded self-identity than as an adversary to be conquered" (p. 51). Rossman and Ulehla state that the "categories of rewards suggested by our importance data were the emotional or spiritual experience, challenge and adventure. Esthetic enjoyment of natural settings, escape from urban stresses, and perhaps and antisocietal influence" (p. 62). In conclusion Rossman and Ulehla report that:

Wilderness researchers Robert Kaplan and Janet Frey Talbot (1983) attempt to answer the question: what are the "Psychological Benefits of a Wilderness Experience?" (p. 163). Kaplan and Talbot, in Human Behavior and the Environment reveal that the particular wilderness viewpoint in question is rather Eastern in its philosophy. I would like to add that this viewpoint is inherently ecopsychological and also has aspects in common with many Native American worldviews and with indigenous cultures in general. "In this view, wilderness encounters are instructive, and an understanding of natural processes is essential to the correct understanding of one’s role in society. The natural world [in this viewpoint] is not threatening or punishing; indeed, the intent is that by observing natural processes, the individual might become one with them, gaining physical comfort, spiritual insight and worldly wisdom" (p. 164).

Within the context and model of the "psychological benefits of wilderness experiences" there seems to be no "unitary emotional response" (p. 166). Instead of discovering a single psychological event or "emotional response" Kaplan and Talbot report that "…Recent studies have shown…that experiences in natural environments are highly satisfying and that the perceived benefits of these experiences are highly valued" (p. 166). Furthermore, Kaplan and Talbot find that in comparing these studies, "it seems evident that the primary source of these satisfactions is the wilderness environment itself" (p. 166-167).

In light of this information concerning the psychological benefits of such experiences in nature, it would seem more appropriate to ask, "what can happen" in such instances rather than what does happen?" This does not necessarily negate the question concerning what these experiences may have in common. Instead it may point in the direction of finding individual pathways to common experiences, which when divulged may seem diverse yet may contain commonalties in that the process leads to similar insights and feelings within each experience.

In a number of research projects carried out over a ten year period and within the context of wilderness and similar in scope to the well known Outward Bound program, that is, with "the hypothesis that lasting changes in individuals are produced by wilderness experiences" researchers found categorize-able clusters of common psychological experiences and emotional changes. These programs, specifically the "Out-door Challenge Research Program" are designed with the intention of being psychologically valuable to the people involved (p. 167, 168). This is still not to say that all participants experience the same awareness and dynamic changes. However, it is in part the purpose of this study to find whether or not, as Kaplan and Talbot state: "There may be…distinct and identifiable processes involved in the individuals encounter with wilderness" (p. 168).

In one such study Kaplan reported that participants experienced: "A greater sense of concern for other people, a more realistic outlook of one’s own strengths and weaknesses, a greater self-sufficiency in the uses of ones times and talents, and a rather positive view of oneself" (p. 169). The Outdoor Challenge Program includes backpacking in groups in remote, isolated areas, cooperation with others in group projects involving preparing food, setting up camp, finding water, etc., and including two days and nights spent entirely without human companionship. The overall length of the programs studied in this research was two weeks.

The analysis of participants journals and questionnaires produced exciting, fascinating and encouraging results. From the questionnaires researchers found that among various items listed:

Excerpts from journals and a generalized analysis of these subjective, empirically based entries are enlightening and show, among other things, an increased sense of mindfulness in relation to surroundings. In answering the question: "what is it like to be here?" posed on day three, people mentioned, "how they are noticing their surroundings in a fuller way, being newly aware of the smells, sights and sounds around them...their new surroundings seem strangely comfortable to them, surprisingly familiar: it feels ‘just natural’ to be here, ‘like an earlier time when things were closer’ " (p. 177).

Kaplan and Talbot report that "By the fifth day, people are beginning to feel that the trip is more than a comfortable, enjoyable experience. They express a new sense of self-confidence…[expressing] a deep sense of peacefulness and tranquility; they are ‘free and happy and relaxed’ in their surroundings" (p. 178).

In reading the findings from the research compiled by Kaplan and Talbot it seems that each day increases the enhanced feelings of awe and wonder, seemingly facilitating in participants a new vision of themselves and their place in the world. On day seven, for example:

The solo experience, as described by Kaplan and Talbot, is more or less a microcosm of the entire wilderness experience. That is, participants repeat the initial "first day" phase of apprehension and anxiety followed by increased awareness, "exhilaration and awe as well as an increased understanding of the environment and one’s relationship to that surrounding reality" (p. 178).

The findings from this particular research project were clustered into four main categories: 1. Situational stress, including discomfort, fears and anxieties around "dealing with strangers, accomplishing cooperative tasks and coping with unfamiliar surroundings." 2. Enjoyment, which includes, "having fun, doing nothing, feeling good" and having mainly to do with stress reduction. 3. Fascination, including "delight in sensory inputs…[relishing in] physical reactions to the surroundings and other activities" (p. 179).

The fourth, and most important category as far as my research is concerned, is the category called "Perceptual Changes." Perceptual changes include "individual’s feelings about themselves" (p. 179). Kaplan and Talbot found that: "Individuals begin to notice small details in their surroundings-not necessarily anything new, but subtle relationships or elements they may have never appreciated before" (p. 179). People began to "feel comfortable in their natural surroundings [and] are surprised at how easily this sense of belonging has developed." Accompanying these perceptual changes is "a growing sense of wonder and a complex awareness of spiritual meanings as individuals feel at one with nature." Self perception changes include enjoying finding out about themselves, "their own feelings, they think of their futures, and they feel more sure of who they are and what they want to do" (pp. 179, 180, 181).

Kaplan and Talbot, in compiling the large amount of information from the various studies comment that: "One of the unexpected findings of this research has been the existence of benefits more profound and far-reaching than we had anticipated" (p. 196). "These benefits appear to unfold gradually during the course of a wilderness trip and seem to include self-insights that imply lasting changes in the participants" (p. 192). These "profound and far-reaching" benefits include lasting changes in self perception. Some reported feeling "older, wiser, less inhibited; learning how to act like myself" (p.183). Other lasting changes include what Kaplan and Talbot call the "Wilderness Perspective," which speaks to reordered life-priorities and self-insights like the ones listed above. In general, as a result of their wilderness experience people found their life priorities aligned differently. That is, "concerns that had seemed urgent before the wilderness trip were less important now…Apparently, reactions to the wilderness experience include an increased ability to distinguish the significant from the trivial" (p. 184). "The self that individuals have become more aware of through this experience seems more closely allied with the natural environment than with the everyday environment of buildings and streets, which seem flat, ugly, and boring by comparison" (p. 182). Overall, participants remember the experience of nature tranquility "as a peaceful, relaxed environment…" (p. 183).

In categorizing these psychological benefits Kaplan and Talbot present a kind of timeline, which roughly tracks which benefits appear according to how long participants have actually been in the natural, wilderness setting. "The first category of benefits, appearing in the journal on Days 3 and 4, involves an intense awareness of the relationship between the individual and the physical environment" (p. 192). Features of this "intense awareness" are, as mentioned previously, "fascination…less employment of effortful (i.e., voluntary) attention." Kaplan and Talbot say here that the increasing feelings of "enjoyment" are "likely to be a reflection of the decreased need to force oneself to attend" (pp. 192-193). That is, in contrast to our "normal" or culturally adapted need to force otherwise spontaneous acts like focusing attention, the wilderness experience gradually, over time, shows us that this specialized form of focused concentration or attention is no longer needed. One can attend to whatever may "grab" your attention or interest but there is a marked contrast between this type of awareness or wilderness consciousness and our "civilized" culturally adapted awareness in which many stimuli may be simultaneously vying for our attention. This diversity of stimuli represents a difficulty "in remaining" effective, explain Kaplan and Talbot, in that we must struggle to make distinctions between relevant and irrelevant stimuli according to the task we may be performing or attempting. "This struggle to remain effective requires the sort of effort James called ‘voluntary attention’ " (p. 191). In the "wilderness experience" one then experiences an enhanced freedom of attention. In other words, "…it is quite safe to attend to what one feels like attending to in the wilderness environment" (p. 193). This represents a much less "crazy-making" environment than the typical urban or suburban dweller might normally experience. In light of these findings it seems that all of our hectic activity, mental and physical can be viewed as a defense, a wall, which serves to prevent self-reflection. As C.G. Jung once said, "…Noise protects us from painful reflection, it scatters our anxious dreams" (Sabini, 1995, p. 13).

The second "category of benefits, which appears around day 5, is at a noticeably deeper level." This category is centered around feelings of increased "self-confidence and a sense of tranquility…Things are starting to fit together at many levels. There is little external distraction and, correspondingly, little internal noise." Furthermore, Kaplan and Talbot (1983) report that: "Participants give the impression of having discovered something of great importance that they hope will have a place in whatever they do…" (p. 193).

What Kaplan and Talbot call the "third major benefit category" seems to "appear around day 7." This particular category is characterized by a "strong inclination toward contemplation, and with it comes a feeling of relatedness to the surrounding environment that approaches awe." Arising with this tendency is a greater "…harmony among one’s perceptions, … so great that there is now room for internally generated perception and thought--room, in other words, for contemplation" (p. 193).

The participants contemplate their recent discoveries concerning, not only self-insights but insights having to do with the nature of "their relationship to the natural world" and "about possibilities for feelings that they had not known existed" (p. 193, 194).

Kaplan and Talbot seem surprised by the profound discoveries and insights participants reported. Once again a central aspect of behavioral changes that took place in participants was a decrease of the need to feel in control of their surroundings. Kaplan and Talbot make the remarkable statement that: "There is a tendency to abandon the implicit purpose of control because it is unnecessary and impossible" (p. 194). This feature of the research findings is of particular interest to my research and to the passage from Kaplan and Talbot which I quoted earlier in this text having to do with the Eastern approach to the natural environment. Taoism in particular stresses the wisdom of non-controlling or letting alone and of aligning oneself with the way or Tao of nature. With these findings in mind it seems that this philosophy is, rather than being an exclusive property of the Asian or Eastern philosophy, accessible to anyone as a kind of earth-wisdom or teaching directly from the source of life. The contemplation reported here also seems remarkably similar to the Taoist Wu Wei or creative quietude, also "not doing." Furthermore, "this finding parallels the pattern of results obtained by Feingold (1979). His "aesthetic-transpersonal" factor, one of the three major components of wilderness benefits that he obtained, "related to feeling less in control or dominant in the environment" (p. 194).

The issue of relinquishing the need to control reveals a further parallel with the Taoist viewpoint in the following statement: "They [participants] abandon any illusion of control in favor of a less dominant but more trusting relationship, and in the process they are likely to reassess their place in the world and their relationship to the natural world in particular. In all these respects the wilderness environment plays a specific content role in the contemplative process of the participants" (p. 198). Participants also "discovered unanticipated possibilities within themselves, and found that they could function quite comfortably in a more unassuming fashion as an integral part of a larger whole" (p. 195).

As these research findings unfold they seem to take on more psychological dimensions which point towards what might be considered higher states of functioning and awareness. I am reminded here not only of the philosophy of Taoism and Buddhism but of the writings and ideas put forth by transpersonal psychologists such as Maslow. These reported wilderness experiences and the facilitation of certain insights and awareness of Self sound remarkably like what has been termed by transpersonal psychologists, specifically Maslow, "peak experiences" (Maslow, 1968, p. 111). It is revealing to compare the following statement from Kaplan and Talbot (1983) with one of Maslow’s: "They [participants] have discovered a different self in the wilderness setting-a self less conflicted, more integrated, more desirable" (p. 195). Clearly this is extremely relevant to, or possibly identical to what Maslow (1968) terms "being one’s real self" (p. 106). Further, "wholeness; unity; integration; tendency to one-ness; interconnectedness…" are some of the features of what Maslow calls "Being Values" in "peak experiences" (p. 83). Maslow offers a parallel, in his description of "Peak experiences as acute identity experiences" to our participants’ lack of need for control. Maslow states that in this experience, "He is no longer wasting effort fighting and restraining himself…Now there is no waste…He becomes like a river without dams" And elsewhere, "He is now most free of blocks, inhibitions, cautions, fears, doubts, controls…" (pp. 106-107). With this in mind it seems that the wilderness experience or "effect" may point in the direction of self-actualization.

The "psychological ‘benefits’ of a wilderness experience" as reported by Kaplan and Talbot seem also to imply greater spiritual awareness as well as leading to integration of self and a keener awareness of interconnectedness, identity and one’s place in the world. Kaplan and Talbot mention that other researchers have found similar benefits and cite the research of Rossman and Ulehla, (1977) who concluded that "certain benefits, such as experiencing ‘tranquility’ and a ‘different’ perspective on life; were considered vastly more likely to occur in natural than in built environments" (Altman & Wohlwill, 1983, p. 198).

Kaplan and Talbot (1983) divide their psychological benefits into two categories. Their words on these categories I find enlightening, encouraging and, like the findings presented above, they represent a validation of my own experiences in wilderness: "The first of these ‘health-related experiences,’ included ‘mental relaxation’ and ‘feelings of receptivity and harmony with the environment’. The second, which Feingold (1979) labeled ‘aesthetic-transpersonal experiences,’ included ‘awareness of beauty and flux of the natural world,’ ‘perceptual alertness,’ ‘personal insight,’ and ‘expanded identity.’ " Kaplan and Talbot then conclude that: "There is growing evidence that nature in general and wilderness in particular do make a substantial difference in benefits obtained. There are certain characteristic patterns which occur in wilderness surroundings, and these are not the same as those enjoyed by urban vacationers" (p. 198).

In conclusion Kaplan and Talbot cluster wilderness influences into three groupings: "1. Tranquility, peace, silence. 2. Integration, wholeness. 3. Oneness." Group one, tranquility, peace and silence, as Kaplan and Talbot point out, regrettably have not generally been highly valued by mainstream psychology. For correlative information on this and the other two categories, integration, wholeness and oneness, we must look toward third and fourth force psychology or humanistic, transpersonal and of course ecopsychology. Group two, integration and wholeness makes strong correlations relevant to humanistic and transpersonal psychology. The authors write: "This concept is related to the idea that the achievement of self-identity is a significant developmental goal." Here the authors place an emphasis on "coherence of identity" over "distinctiveness" and draw parallels in the interaction of "this idea and the tranquility concept" in that the less internal noise there is the "greater the self-integration…and hence the greater the tranquility. Conversely, tranquility is a state that makes contemplation possible and contemplation may be necessary for the achievement and maintenance of integration" (p. 200). The above is a more western scientific way of saying what in Buddhist or phenomenological terms would be seen as a mutual co-arising of tranquility and contemplation in a sort of tranquility/integration whole or gestalt, where tranquility and contemplation co-constitute each other.

The third category of "oneness" is defined as, "the sense of being at one with the universe" (p. 200). Kaplan and Talbot note that "this seems to be another case of what might be called a spiritual dimension of human experience, to which [mainstream] psychology has given relatively little attention" (p. 200). The authors add a poignant comment at the end of their presentation about how they "were impressed by the durability of that residue in the human makeup that still resonates so strongly to these remote, uncivilized places" (p. 200). The sense of oneness or wholeness is precisely that feeling conveyed in the stories told by Harper, Leonard and Glendinning earlier in this text. Can this "resonating" with nature, this "oneness" be considered a peak, apex or essence of optimal human experience both psychologically and spiritually as the wilderness effect?

Along these same third and fourth force psychological lines of thought Neil R. Scott, M.D. (1974) put forth the idea "that outdoor recreation such as backpacking, canoeing, nature study, and mountaineering in a wilderness setting offers to the participant a unique opportunity for psychological growth" (p. 231). Scott equates this "psychological growth" with Maslow’s theories of self-actualization and cites artists, writers and naturalists such as, Thoreau, Catlin, Muir, Eiseley and Aldo Leopold, saying that they "were highly self-actualized people who used wilderness experiences to further their growth; their writings suggest that peak experiences aided their understanding of the environment" (p. 235, 236). Scott also cites "conceptual frameworks other than that of Maslow" including that of Bucke who cited Thoreau, Emerson and Whitman in his study of "cosmic consciousness" (p. 236). Scott states that "Jung personally received tremendous inspiration from nature and mountains and perceived in the latter an expression of man’s potential" (p. 236). Scott’s expectations were "that wilderness experiences are more likely to foster self-actualization and the occurrence of peak experiences than outdoor activity in more degraded environments" (p. 236). Thus, Scott postulated that the more often one has wilderness experiences the more likely that person will have peak experiences and become self-actualized.

Wilderness researchers Robert A. Young and Rick Crandall (1984) attempted to put Scott’s hypothesis to the test. The purpose of Young and Crandall’s research was "to provide an empirical test of the prediction that wilderness users are more self-actualized than occasional users" (p. 149). Young and Crandall cite and discuss the viewpoints of some recreational practitioners. "For instance, Farina (1974) wrote that ‘self-actualization could be considered as the end goal of leisure’ " (p. 150). Young and Crandall also cite Swan (1977) who "believes that individuals ‘placed in a wilderness environment that is not threatening experience joy and can have what the late Abraham Maslow called ‘peak experiences’ or ‘moments of transcendence’ " (p. 150). Young and Crandall point out that Maslow "reported that his group of high self-actualizers liked solitude and privacy more than the average person and that they reported ‘peak experiences’ which are like those reported by wilderness users" (p. 151). Wilderness experience surely would fulfill the aesthetic needs of self-actualizing people and in this sense correlates nicely with Maslow’s theory and Scott’s hypothesis.

Young and Crandall concluded that:

Young and Crandall go on to say:

This last statement assumes a kind of linear causality, meaning that one thing or event causes another. Phenomenological methods of research and philosophy see these events or attitudes as co-constituting one another. This viewpoint breaks the linear causal pattern paradox in that it sees these things as mutually co-arising rather than one being apriori and causing the other to "happen." The phenomenological view avoids the problem of infinite regression inherent in notions involving linear causality. With this in mind the possible relationship between self-actualization and wilderness "use" takes on a different meaning. Rather than seeing self-actualization as being caused by wilderness "use" or vice versa they are seen as a whole or gestalt in which each creates the other in a non-linear fashion.

Finally, Young and Crandall conclude that, "It is always difficult to prove that an effect is weak or non-existent. Some groups of wilderness users may be highly self-actualized" (p. 158).

Joan Snyder (1988) conducted a qualitative, heuristic study titled, The Experience of Really Feeling Connected to Nature. The following information is gleaned from the abstract of her doctoral dissertation. In Snyder’s study fifteen women participated "in extensive interviews regarding their experience, with particular focus on psychological qualities and meanings inherent in connectedness to nature" (p. 1). Snyder found that four central themes emerged:

The following is a very moving verbatim account from an initial interview with one of Snyder’s co-researchers (subjects):

This quote recalls again the accounts cited earlier in this text that have to do with the feeling of oneness. The above passage, along with the other direct quotes from people’s experiences cited in this study, helps to show simultaneously the diversity of experience and the possibility of finding some unity in the psychological and spiritual meaning arising from wilderness experience.

Psychologist, professor and wilderness group leader Robert Greenway (1995) began "incorporating wilderness experiences into Peace Corps training programs in the 1960’s…as a retreat from cultural dominance. Greenway believes "that a marriage of the two fields [education and wilderness experience] was essential for an understanding, if not a healing, of the human-nature relationship" (p. 123). As a psychology professor at Sonoma State University Greenway implemented, taught and led a wilderness experience course over a period of several years. In Greenway’s own words, "…the escape to wilderness, became a very self-conscious study of the dramatic changes people go through during extended (and carefully structured) stays there." Greenway’s thoughtfully planned trips were "designed to encourage participants to leave behind the props of culture and enter fully into wilderness" (p. 124).

Greenway’s wilderness trips always involved ritual with "special attention…paid to crossing the boundary into wilderness, often in the form of a river or stream." After a few days when participants would speak of being "home" Greenway "would know that [they] had crossed into wilderness psychologically as well as physically (p. 124). As in the previously cited study by Kaplan and Talbot (1983), Greenway’s wilderness course included some alone time. There were, however, other activities and features all which may have had the effect of facilitating or quickening the emergence of psychological benefits. These were: "all-night chanting rituals; climbs to peaks at sunrise or sunset or in silence in the moonlight; separate camps for several days for men and women, with ritualized ways of coming back together; and more rarely exploring the wilderness together" (p. 125). The following passages may help one to feel what this experience is like: "…Just being in the wilderness, alone and together, and the simple acts of living and moving together, leaving no trace, cooking and sleeping, tuning into fire and water and various celestial events, became the fully occupying agenda. Together we experience the incredible drama of a genuine relationship between humans and nature unfolding" (p. 125). Greenway talks of a special, magical moment occurring while the group was sitting in circle near the river:

These and similar passages help to convey the deepness, the opening processes which one can experience through wilderness. Greenway also asks extremely important questions, very similar to the questions my study asks. For instance Greenway asks:

Greenway talks of "entering the wilderness psychologically as well as physically" and believes that we enter wilderness more fully to the extent that we are able to "leave culture behind." That is, as Greenway says, "if we’re ‘culture bound’—that is, locked into a voracious web of reinforcements that continually penetrate and are in turn supported by our collective mental processes," then we will not be fully able to open ourselves to the kind of psychological changes that can take place in the wilderness (pp. 127,128).

Release of repression and "release of the inevitable controls that exist in any culture" are an important part of the wilderness experience for many participants according to Greenway. It is also important to note that those "who speak of this benefit tend to see its source…in the ‘internal wilderness’ of physiology, instincts, archetypes, and the like" (p. 128). Furthermore, according to Greenway, there seems to be no unified or single psychological, physical event or process, which can be described as happening with all participants; the processes tend to defy description, at least in English Words. Greenway points out that "we are dealing with an extremely diverse experience which each person tends to remember and to interpret differently." With this in mind it became obvious to Greenway that he was "attempting to explore an experience of such depth and complexity that the terms ‘ineffable’ or ‘spiritual’ are appropriate. It appears to be an experience of exquisite beauty and clear impact for most people, and one that dissolves upon return to the urban culture or places the individual in more or less severe conflict with that culture" (p. 128).

After teaching the wilderness course for a few years Greenway began conducting his own research. "From more than 1,380 persons…700 questionnaires, 700 interviews, 52 longitudinal studies, and more than 300 personal responses to trips" (p. 128).

The following are some of Greenway’s "preliminary descriptive statistics:"

"76 percent of all respondents reported dramatic changes in quantity, vividness, and context of dreams after about seventy-two hours of entering into the wilderness; 82 percent of those expressed a change in content of dreams from ‘busy’ or ‘urban’ scenarios at the outset to dreams about the group or some aspect of the wilderness." Greenway’s poignant and remarkably insightful comment on the dream findings are worthy of note: "It seems on the average to take three or four days for people’s dreams to catch up with them! As I have said, not completely in jest, this pattern suggests that our culture is only four days deep" (pp. 128, 129).

Greenway, in his discussion of his findings asks, "What might all this mean?" I believe he goes a long ways toward answering his own question when he says that:

As for the "psychological changes taking place in the wilderness" Greenway explains, "that there is a shift from culturally reinforced, dualism-producing reality processing to a more nondualistic mode. In essence, consciousness remains, but the dominance of consciousness by the need-crazed egoic process (especially the making of distinctions) diminishes, leaving a simpler, "nonegoic" awareness in its wake" (pp. 131, 132).

Greenway goes on to draw parallels between the wilderness experience and "the psychedelic and meditation experiences." What he sees that these experiences share in common is their "non-goal-oriented awareness" (p. 132). This "non-goal-oriented awareness" seems remarkably similar to the reports of Kaplan and Talbot’s subjects diminished need for control. Greenway also reinforces the Eastern approach Kaplan and Talbot mentioned, which is basically Taoist in orientation, when he says: "We could say that when humans can open their consciousness to natural processes, they find ‘nature reinforcing itself’ " (p. 132).

Although psychologist and wilderness group leader Steven Harper (1995) has not actually done research per se, his accounts of his participant’s experiences in wilderness and his own words on this phenomenon add a welcome depth and color to this exploration. Harper believes that:

Harper tells of a computer programmer named Dan who had a tendency to hide in his "cocoon-like tent" while everyone else slept under the night sky. "Finally," writes Harper, "one full-moon night, the group gently urged him to try a night outside exposed to the elements…Upon awakening the next morning Dan proceeded to share his delight in watching the moon travel the night sky" (p. 188). After this experience Dan opened up and divulged to the group feelings about his isolation: "Insulated from human contact…He saw that his life had become void of living things, to the point where he was afraid of almost any human contact. From that morning on "Dan engaged more with other group members" (pp. 188, 189).

Dan clearly experienced an increase in self-confidence and I venture to say also an openness of heart, which may have helped deepen the process both for him and the group, as evidenced by the following passage: Dan "talked the whole group into an early morning dip in the nearby ice-cold stream. We walked to the trailhead that day energized and feeling fully alive" (p. 189).

Another participant overcame her fear of snakes during her solo time. In reaction to a king snake slithering through her camp Jan "decided [she] must become the snake." Jan, in her own words to Steven Harper and the group, said:

Harper also tells of a mother in transition whose children were now grown and gone. Marcie was gripped with fear that she would fall off the "mildly steep section of the trail" she was on. This wilderness trail reflected and symbolized Marcie’s existential situation in life. "After some minutes of deep sobbing, she began to relate to her larger fear of falling from the trail of the life she had known for so many years" (p. 193). With encouragement from Harper "to enter into [her] feelings" Marcie recovered her sense of groundedness and was able to move on and up (p. 193). Marcie, in a sense, used the environment as a metaphoric and therapeutic mirror for her identity crisis. It seems that wilderness, when used in this way, can become a powerful ally for self-knowing.

As Harper says: "In all the trips I lead I see wilderness as our primary teacher. For this reason I consciously acknowledge the transitions of entering and leaving the wilderness with rituals" (p. 191). Harper’s focus is on "those transformations offered by wilderness directly. Wilderness is a way and a tradition in its own right. If we are willing to be still and open enough to listen, wilderness itself will teach us" (p. 185). Echoing the words of Kaplan and Talbot in the Eastern view of wilderness talked of earlier Harper explains that: "When we are truly willing to step into the looking glass of nature and contact wilderness, we uncover a wisdom much larger than our small everyday selves. Uninterrupted and undisturbed nature takes care of itself" (p. 185).

Harper also talks of a period of adjustment and an "optimum length of the stay…which allows people to achieve a certain feeling of belonging. For this to happen, there should be enough time for individuals to undergo the "midcourse blues,"…Once the group has gone through this transition, interesting things begin to happen. We find that we no longer feel like outsiders or visitors; we feel at home in wild nature" (p. 187).

This last sentence may prove to be one of the most all-encompassing statements of nature re-connecting and wilderness practice. I say this because it may very well be that the feeling of being welcome and "at home" in our "ecos" or home is precisely the feeling of mutual acceptance and safety required for optimal human psychological and eco-system reciprocal, sustainable functioning.

The last research I will cite is the phenomenological study of Dr. Elizabeth Bragg (1996). Bragg used a technique with her co-researchers she calls "rapport interviewing," which she describes as lying "methodologically between the standard structured interview and the unstructured interviews commonly recommended by feminist researchers" (p. 3). Bragg "created a comprehensive series of open-ended questions about different aspects of people’s relationship with nature" (p. 3). The following is a small sample of Dr. Bragg’s interview results, which she says are "typical of the responses that I classified as displaying a sense of ‘spiritual oneness’ with nature" (p. 4):

This concludes the review section on the research and material that is relevant to this study. Many of these pertinent research findings and other relevant writings will be referred to in the discussion and implications section of this study.